Hi,

I am in need of advice about heating, housing and food for my cold, cramped snails!

I currently have 107 fulcia GALS, 10 adults and 97 juvinilles. At the moment, it is very cold and I really want to purchase heat mats for each tank and to somehow monitor the humidity and temperature but I am extremely paranoid about them being 'cooked in the subtrait' like I have heard can happen if a heat mat is put in the wrong place or is too large (so the snails can't move to a cooler part of the tank if cold).

I've kept GALS for several years now but I think, having not been given expert advice when I first got them, I have probably developed some ways of looking after them that negatively impact their health.

As well as offering advice on the heat mats, can anyone help me with some other problems I have?

I really lack tank space, with only 2 medium sized plastic and 1 medium sized glass tank housing the 107 snails. Normally, Either 5 adults are each placed in two tanks and the remaining tank has to contain all 97 juvinilles, or all 10 adults are put into one tank and I split the 97 juvinilles between two tanks. I tend to alternate between which agegroup is unfortunate enough to be so cramped.

I can't really afford to purchase any more tanks so can anyone advise me on how to rehome some of my juvinilles so that they can live happier lives and grow more?

As it is so cramped for them, the majority are a lot smaller than they should be and there isn't enough food to go round for them. Are there any foods in particular that are benefitial for helping them grow if eaten in small quantities? As an individual juvinille snail eats very seldomly because of having to compete with so many others for the available food, it might be more beneficial if I were to replace the staple diet of lettuice (which is supplemented with other things) and instead feed them the majority of the time something with more rich in a variety of vitamins, or more fattening? Can anyone suggest anything?

As I said, I have 97 juvinilles who are just over one year old and 10 adults. Recently, my mum offered to clean out the snails for me and I'm busy studying for A Level exams so I was happy to not have to do it myself. The thing is, despite my advising to keep them separate, she mixed all of the juvinilles and adults up so some really tiny and slightly larger juvinilles are in the same tank as two or three 3 year old large adults. Am I worrying unnecessarily or is it unsafe for the juvies to be with adults?

If anyone can offer me any suggestions or advise me on how to rehome any of my juvinilles I would be very greatful! I have lots of pictures available.

Thanks!

I read this really quickly as i have exam revision to do/LEARN, so i may have missed loads out.

Adults and babies are often kept in tanks together, they should be totally fine. If there are millions though in one tank they may get crawled over more often and younger shells are weaker. Though one year isnt actually that young, they are sexually mature which means more eggs.. what breed are these fulicas?

About the heat mat, i had a fury hot water bottle for the side of my tank it doesnt burn the plastic keeps them at a nice warm humid temperature. Though you have to wrap something around it like a blanket to keep the warmth in. Make shift heat mat- Not very pratical for a long time though.

Also ebay those other snails because that is far too many to have, try local newspaper adds to sell them off or try local pet shops.

The food thing, my snails LOVE porrage, it makes them grow much faster and keeps them fuller for longer. Its not the best nutrition wise to ONLY keep them on, infact my retic albino grew a little TOO fast because for the first month he was so picky and only wanted that and a couple other things.

These are Achatina Fulicas, so 1 snail alone can lay over 100 eggs at a time! I was hoping they'd be less active and go into hybination in the winter but the juvinilles haven't and now the older snails have suddenly woken up despite the cold, so I could have a massive problem as far as eggs are concerned if more than one pair get at it!

Thanks for the advice about the porridge. I'm never fed any of mine any grains cos I've heard that starchy foods, like pasta and potatoes, can kill snails cos they can't digest them properly. Can anyone tell me whether porridge oats are ok or can they cause digestion problems/discomfort? If it is ok to give them porridge I'll definitely try!

I do know that milk makes snails sick though because, as snails have toxic stomachs, the ones cooked in restaurants are fed milk so their stomachs aren't poisonous to the people who eat snails so I'll be making water-oat porridge!

I've tried local adverts and going to petshops, have posted messages on all sorts of pet forums offering them for free even for over a year and no-one wants any. Someone nearly took 50 of mine but on the day I was going to drive for over an hour to deliver them free of charge they decided they wouldn't do it unless I gave them my tank for, which was brand new and expensive, so I didn't manage to give any away.

I have an ebay account but I can't set up direct debit, which I need to become a seller on Ebay, until I'm 18 so I'm stuck with this problem for a long time unless anyone can suggest other ways of rehoming them.

I'll try the hot waterbottle thing out, sounds a much cheaper solution so thanks! I only have a couple of waterbottles and there are three tanks in need of heat. I'll either need to get another bottle or buy some heat mats but I don't know where else to look. I've tried three local petshops and none of them have anything that heats the air: they all seem to be designed for heating the items in a lizards vaverium so they stay warm on a log or something and they don't actually heat the air!

I've got loads of studying to do and exams too this week: maths, chemistry, politics and economics AS exams, plus another maths exam the week after. Good luck with yours!

good idea about the hot water bottle.

Try local primary schools - they often use snails as class projects and what not. the problem is, achatina fulica are one of the most common species of GAL. Pet shops probably wont want them and you cant really sell them because most people can get them for free.

You MUST MUST MUST check regularly for eggs with the amount of adult snails you have and dispose of them. over 100 snails is FAR too many to be keeping together because there just isn't room for them to grow up. they will start to die off if they are overcrowded!

heat mats are fine to use. there is a rule for attatching them safely which is this:
-the heat mat should be no large than 2/3 of the tank size to allow a graduation of temperature.
-the heat mat should be attatched to the back wall of the tank ABOVE the level of the substrate to avoid overheating and dehydrating the soil which can, I've heard, cook your snails...

Also, if you attach a few inches of polystyrene to the back of the heat mat, it will direct more heat into the tanks than is lost. Glass tanks heat up more easily but it will work for plastic tanks too.

One thing you might want to try to discourage breeding for a while is to use less substrate. If the soil is shallow, or if you use sphagnum moss instead, they cannot bury as easily and don't tend to breed.

As far as keeping them warm goes, just try to insulate them using polystyrene and keep them away from window this time of year as that's where it's coldest. You can keep them by a radiator but don't sllow the substrate to dry out or they'll get overheated. Spray twice a day with a mister to keep them happy.

oh and btw, what you want is the Habistat Heat Strip. It warms the air temp by a couple of degrees or so which is usually fine.

It's not always warm enough this time year but by running the snails under some warm running water every other day or so *make sure you don't drown them!* prevents them form hibernating and makes them more active.

If you want more tips on bathing let me know

Oh definately, Maybe you already do, but my snails go crazy for a warm bath. Though they will probably be speeding about the place after.

Use things like warm water in the spray bottle and i'll put a post in another forum linking it to you.

You don't need to be 18 to have a debit card. I had one before i was 18 which meant i could create a paypal account needed for ebay. It says you have to be 18 to sell on there... Ignore them. Do it anyway.

I wish i could take one from you, but i have an albino fulica on the way and can't have the babbas! I have classical civilisations second year exam... an insanely hard class. Tomorrow have english litrature and language and then tuesday philosophy At least i dropped Environmental studies. PHEW! i have one in the morning.. Oh dear.

Make sure if you havent got a fury cover for the water bottle you don't make it boiling with the plastic.

Porrage is completely fine trust me, mine have been fed it since young. Make sure it isnt every day they are fed, because infact too quick growing can cause cracks in their shell.

Lots of people feed snails on milk, so it seems often it is fine, i only use water though as even though many snails are fine with milk, it seems to be like with humans, some can't take it. No celery either, which i fed mine when they were young... was fine though... Luckily.

Also wheatabix probably is good for growing, It does contain salt but not much. Unless you've somehow got one that does. These are more treat "fill them up" foods though. Not really nutritious.

I've heard recently on here that squash is a really good food for growing snails as it has calcium in it too.

Glittersniffer, what have you heard about celery?

Thanks for all the heating advice, everybody!

I'll definitely invest in some more water-bottles/the heatmat recommended if it is stocked somewhere.

Thanks as well for all the housing and nutrition advice. I'll definitely try the porridge thing and maybe mix it with some chrushed pumpkin seeds as I have tried in the past giving them oats, seeds and crushed egg-shell in a sort of mushy paste mixed with water and they love that! It takes forever to crush egg-shell into a fine powder though so I seldom do that: I'll try it without the shell and see how that works.

I do have a debit card and have had an Ebay account since I was 15 when you have to be 18 but I thought Direct Debit, which is an agreement between yourself and your bank, required you to be 18 or over: a person's bank will won't allow them to set up Direct Debit if they are under 18, as far as I'm aware.

I must make sure I start spraying the snails each day because I thought that just made it cold and that they couldn't burrow in wet soil: a few of the juvinilles died when I went on holiday for christmas for a few days (leaving the heating on and lots of food in the tank) and I think they must have been too hot or dry. I've never bathed any of the juvinilles cos some of them are so tiny I would be worried they 'd drown so maybe you can advice me on how to effectively bath so many snails of different sizes in a shortish space of time: I don't really want to bath over 100 snails in one go on a regular basis! It would take ages to find them all too, let alone bath them!
I do, however, bath the biggies (whole are 2) occassionally, but because evapouration causes loss of heat I don't do it in the winter cos i thought they would be colder after the bath than before! Should I bath them during winter, then?

Keep posting any more ideas or comments. I'm not going to be replying until about Friday due to all the studying for my exams this week (Maths this morning was terrible so I'm going to stop using the computer for the week so I focus and do well in the others!) but that doesn't mean I'm not insterested in your posts and that you should stop leaving advice!

Thanks again, and hope your exams are going well, glittersniffer

Thank you .. My exam, It wasnt a particually hard question, it was just very unexpected and something we hadn't done ANYTHING on. So i just blagged it. The other esay question included creativity, which this morning i lacked LOTS because i had a couple hours sleep.

You have to mist them though, sphagnum moss keeps humidity well i think. Means they don't lay as much also and they eat it too.. or supposidly, mine don't seem to much it, perhaps in secret. I brought a christmas treat mix from ebay with calcium and herb mix, seed mix, fruit mix and veg mix and add that into the porrage, they seem to enjoy it. it only cost a couple pounds.

An easy way to bathe many at a time i guess is put a bunch on the plastic box lid. Run a sink of warm water and spoon it with your hand over them. I never dunk them under water really, i just pool it over them.

Plastic boxes arent particually expensive though, if you go to more cheap "bits and bobs" shops, mine cost 3.50 for a 35ltr one. Though im building a large vivarium. Pound shops have loads of water bottles in stock at the moment. Maybe make a little cover for it with old clothes or something if money is tight.

Got any pictures? Im curious to see how they look.

Also with ebay- I may be just misunderstanding what you're saying, but as with loads of things on the internet they say" Must be 18 to create an account." but i just ignored it. I had an account with a natwest debit card when i was 15. its worth going to the bank because so many things online are MUCH cheaper. I don' know how different your account is to mine, but just enter your details into paypal and see if they accept. If it works then you can use ebay.

Also, one more thing, try a grinder the cheaper plastic ones only ever cost a couple pounds and you find them everywhere, They should crush up the egg and anything else you need.

Hope SOMETHING in this post helps. I keep forgettting what i was going to write.

Perhaps is easier though, to just give someone cash and search everything you want on ebay for cheaper prices, i can send some ideas. Then get them to pay by card...?